Olympus Heights
Sitemap ' OLYMPUS HEIGHTS Extended Level Maps' Re-Revised Level Maps : (Click To Enlarge) --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Olympus Heights ''' --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- This Olympus Heights map took long to (originally) process because it had to integrate with the immediately adjacent Apollo Square level map set, tying in the transportation systems and showing the various adjacent overlapping buildings from the other map (much of my Apollo Square map was done simultaneously). Map Orientation - figured out from the in-game Trolley routes (including the Artemis level map connected via that Security Airlock we go thru to get to Apollo Square). Trolley line going North thru Mercury Suites will turn North-West to head towards Point Prometheus. The Southwards line splits (beyond Athenas Glory) to continue on to many further destinations. Note - Even though many accessways are shown leading to/accessing various hidden utility compartments and systems, there is far more NOT shown. Removable panels, manhole covers, narrow spaces between walls are everywhere within the pressurized structure of most of Rapture's buildings. As usual, with my extended versions of the game maps, the interior spaces are greatly increased from the limited areas we went thru in the games -- to fill out the now monolithic outlines of the buildings. Much more infrastructure has been assumed and added to make what we saw a functional part of Rapture. --- --- --- '''Construction Details : Many parts of the city were prefabricated duplicate sections made near the surface (where construction work is far easier and far cheaper than building them down below). Fairly regular structures like sewer/utility ways would be pieced together with minimized adding of 'Custom' sections to fill in/match the irregularities (mostly direction changes to connect city clusters). Smaller specialized sections like airlocks, window sets, and door portals likewise would be prefabricated the same way, to be fitted into/within the larger prefabricated sections. - Generally not shown/indicated on the lower levels are : all the utility pipes, drains, conduits and cables which connect to the floors above (through appropriate seals/valves/connectors). Care in the design of these would be taken because a simple/crude pipe-embedded-through-concrete solution can quickly rust, and with the water pressures involved, cause substantial leak paths within just a few years. Such utility systems would require frequent inspections. - Most of the Basement/Foundation level Pressure Doors are 'swing' submarine-type doors (which are far cheaper and require less maintenance). Those levels are infrequently accessed by personnel (including Big Daddies) , who open and close them only when accessing the Utilities and Sump pumps at those levels. The door's containment is designed redundant, with many separately sealable 'cells' to increase the safety margins. Multiple access paths allow 'working around' problems to carry out repairs. Automatic emergency 'bulkhead doors' would also be present in the ordinary 'people' parts of Rapture. - Rapture did have (like many Surface cities) some 'redevelopment', which required modifying existing structures to fit some significant changes, which mangled the designs of the original city planning. This included adding Trolley connecting tracks, when Rapture's individual Trolley Companies were bought out and consolidated into the "Metro". Earlier, major changes were done alongside Athena's Glory, when the new Mk2 Atlantic Express station was added (its size had to be shoe-horned in adjacent to the other buildings). --- --- --- Fixes : A number of windows in the Mercury Suites apartments don't align with the floors above (which extend well past their position). Inconsistencies were corrected by stretching a few rooms to meet/join the buildings wall lines (bigger always better, anyway). The windows in Sander Cohen's upstairs and Tenenbaum's apartment were incorrectly too-far-back from the outside building's facade wall (seen from down on the viaduct) -- that is now corrected. (( '' The game's level designers often don't seem concerned with errors like this '' )) As with my usual conversion process, the Mercury Suites building's exterior shaping was streamlined and simplified to make them more monolithic, but all the odd window positionings forced some irregularities (which the rich people paying-the-rents/owning-them could afford those extra expenses - in exchange for their more 'unique' interior floorplans). Mercury Suites/Artemis Suites buildings were shifted northwards to prevent overlap conflict with buildings on the Apollo Square map (They apparently didn't coordinate such details between those Level Devs). - That whole "Tenenbaum's Safehouse" section has been shoved Northwards a bit to be within the Olympus Heights Transit building (somewhat under Bistro Square area) BECAUSE the East-West sewer connections down there would have stuck out illogically perpendicular, and going directly into the Sea from that Trolley Viaduct above. The Sewer now extends linearly along the Viaduct to connect to other buildings in the Cluster (and beyond). They should have probably realized this in the game, as having that big mismatched block of structure haphazardly positioned UNDER the Viaduct breaks up/disjoints the whole aesthetic/pattern of it being a "Bridge". But the (likely different) Level Developers were not too careful to keep the internal and external views cohesive (that flaw was done repeatedly in this game's levels). That area, now under/within the Viaduct, matches the width of the main Trolley level, and contains appropriate sewer/utility systems. - I've widened the Trolley Viaducts (those connecting the buildings/plazas) to fit properly sized Trolley cars going around tight curves (car ends stick out more on curves, and the additional clearance was needed to avoid hitting pedestrians/scraping the wall). The Trolley routes shown on the original game maps (and seen in the game) have Tracks of absurdly short length. They are virtually useless for transportation - so useless as to be LAUGHABLE. OK, its a caricature showing an 'element' of the City, and gamewise realism wasn't needed (though it would NOT have been hard to put just a little more thought into it). For the MMORPG, where realism is MUCH more emphasized/expected, the Metro Trolley mechanisms and facilities would follow (more) realistic practices and dimensions. Tracks now should (and now are shown) continue on THROUGH the stations/buildings, and are extended to far-far greater route lengths -- out across the City to many other building Clusters. (They aren't much good if they ONLY traverse 300 feet in a City which is miles across). There are also now track junctions where multiple routes join, and allow Trolleys to continue on in several different directions (or passengers to transfer between the Trolley lines which WOULD BE criss-crossing the City). The Double track at least makes sense with a track for each direction (being quite pointless the way they had it shown originally). The adjusted Trolley tracks now go thru buildings (and largely stay level). Stairs/Ramps descend to the station platform levels, which are now raised walkways matching the height of the side doors on the Trolley cars. Many of the Trolley 'stops' are no longer oddly in the MIDDLE of the viaducts, but are properly in the lower levels of the buildings, forming more convenient transit hubs. I've had to do some significant readjustments to allow the Trolleys to go thru the building -- by dropping the tracks lower to a level BELOW the 'plaza' level, and having stairs/ramps rise up from the track platform level to help with the required floor separation. There is also now additional commercial space existing in those plaza transit 'hubs'. --- --- --- Additions : Added a major expansion of the Sewer System (extending that small representative bit (open sewer??) we saw outside Tenenbaum's Safehouse), now extending thru those gratings to a vast network that would actually run thru the lower levels of many/most sections of the City. The same passages also carry utility lines/pipes/conduits, and maintenance/garbage haulage Trams. It was thru similar tunnels that Atlas moved about when he was being hunted (with his terrorist actions preventing normal maintenance, such traversals may not have been the most pleasant experiences). - Mercury Suites (those large/quality Apartments affordable by wealth/important Citizens) - I've added some staff/servants quarters, and numerous closet/storage/utility spaces. Some of the apartments were stretched to fit the windows to the building's overall floor/building dimensions better. Additional Apartments were added, and existing ones extended to fill the building interior space (no point in having empty closed off voids). - North-South Trolley line crosses the West-East line just above Mercury Suites (it is the same West-East path seen on the Apollo Square level map). We saw many bicycles around Rapture (even advertisements for them), so where could you ride them ? You need open/flat ways, without having stairs/step/doors constantly. Logical then for Trolley tracks being made a little more realistically (in form and extent/length/interconnections) than originally, now with their rails embedded in a roadway surface (as they ARE in REAL streets in the Real World), they would offer useful paths for bicycles to follow to travel thru much of Rapture. In other less congested parts of Rapture, the center walkway would be flush with the tracks, opening the whole surface to traversal, thus giving space for pedestrians and bicyclists to easily get out of the way of Trolley traffic. Sufficient 'sidewalk' space would also be provided to the sides so pedestrians would not impede the Trolleys. A different design layout (not seen on these maps) expands on these 'Streets', and would make some of the the Trolley Viaduct structures wider and taller, and have buildings (upto 3 stories) on one or both sides, making them look much more like conventional city streets. Olympus Heights is an affluent area, so these common 'Street' city blocks are not present. Those original (BS1) Trolley cars have a boo-boo : Their front-end has a doorway shape visible (they just cloned the car's backend 3D shape, I'd guess, and inserted a wooden door sized slab). While on the inside is an implied front window (for the operator) with no evidence of any door (that front 'door' outside is blocked by handrails crossing it anyway). The original BS1 Trolleys all-in-all are someones *REALLY* WEIRD bit of work, and makes me wonder if the 3D designer ever actually looked at a period Trolley closely in real life (or even bothered to Google them). The opening at its rear end only makes sense IF it is for connecting two Trolley cars (back to back) into multiple units (and should NOT have those VERY strange steps down to track level - Something which is normally a VERY WRONG way to let passengers out - down onto the track). I've theorized (to sort-of justify what we saw) that those tiny Trolleys were of one of an older style (from MK1 days before Rapture's Trolley system was consolidated, and when many separate companies had existed). Many of the newer standardized Trolley cars would have been damaged in the City's chaos (we ARE near Apollo Square after all, which was close to being a 'war zone'). The old ones then were being run, and are seen having been destroyed in Anarchist's destructive actions before Jack gets there. Those (weird) tiny Trolleys we saw in the game have no seats in them, but those could have been removed to make space - as many seem to be relegated to being shelters in BS1 (probably as the Trolley traffic was blocked/shutdown through these 'Anarchist run' areas). It is within the realm of possibility that these STRANGE Trolleys were grabbed from the Children's Amusement Park at "Carnival" ( See the map MetroWays2X_18.jpg ) - Pump Stations added. There might seem to be alot of 'Pumping Stations', but the drainage systems would NEED to be redundant. Should one system fail, the adjacent buildings pumps could (as a final recourse) do the needed work. Also, when Rapture was being built, buildings were initially in a flooded state while the structural 'pressure containment' was being achieved. So the pumps in the building itself were not yet operational, and the initial draining was done by an adjacent (finished) building's pumps. Note that these Pump Station also handle the sumps of the large Trolley Viaducts. - Added - "Sander Cohen's Heights Key Club" on upper floor of Mercury Suits Sub Parking Garage (a place where a number of the richer people in Rapture were known to converge). Sander Cohen had a private Trolley station access fit into the Mercury Suites building. He also had a private Trolley Car fitted out to his specifications. ( Yes WE would like to see THAT thing ... ) A reason why Sander Cohen MAY have had the position he did in Rapture (being connected to Ryan) when he may not have been quite so rich before coming to Rapture : He was instrumental in getting a number of other Millionaires to go to Rapture and bring THEIR fortunes, which would have added significantly to the money available to build the underwater city. (( '' I don't believe in 'Wave The Hand' game stories - the MMORPG will be alot more interesting explaining all these things '' )). - Suchong also now has a stairway down to the Trolley Station in his Mercury Suites apartment (He didn't trust Bathyspheres, and the AE Train Station was too far, and having a private Trolley Car provided by Fontaine was a perk of his position.) - Added a Jet Postal station (The usual facility which most building clusters in Rapture had). That's another thing 'retrofitted' into Rapture's city buildings (Fortunately much of that systems infrastructure had alot of independence and could be fitted into the many Utility spaces.) The original 'Post Office' facilities would also be reused. - Added - an upstairs shopping "mall" in Olympus Heights central square. A convergences of many transportation systems is the natural place for such things. That term "mall" is loosely used, as the term usually applies to automobile accessible shopping centers, which started when automobiles became commonplace 30 years before Rapture's Founding. --- --- --- The large Metro Bathysphere Station (now with 5 holes) at Olympus Heights was added (expanded) later in Raptures history, a while after the newer Atlantic Express station was built (~1950). The new major Bathysphere hub tied in many of the lines of that consolidated system (Anton Kinkaide consolidated a network from several earlier separate companies, and 6 route lines of those converge at this station), and inter-linked with the other transportation systems. The expensive local Residences would also warrant extra (the more costly) Bathysphere travel than poorer districts, who's people could/would take the Trolley. Look at what's on Level 0 to see all the bits of 'Bathysphere' system that wasn't shown in the game (again it shows the reason Bathyspheres weren't (and couldn't be) the chief transport system or any equivalent to 'Automobiles'. (Similar facilities, sufficient for ONE Bathysphere dock, would be required for *ANY* PRIVATE access to the system -- its is hardly the same as 'parking in the street', or your typical/common small house garage ...) I have added separate small Bathysphere Stations in each building basement (accessed off an elevator -- their more affluent customers get direct passthru via the Big Station hub). These small Stations employ low (Rapture normal) pressure 'transfer' water tunnels connecting to the main Bathysphere Station in the far SW corner. There the shared cableway mechanisms go off in 6 different directions in Rapture (it is a major Station for a main Cable hub in Rapture). A transfer tube also comes in from the Apollo Square level map. The less affluent accommodations THERE limited the need for multiple 'Bathysphere' transfer Stations (or even a need for any main Station). The sealed Transfer tubes (light-brown 'shadow') are largely embedded in the seabed below the 'basement level' of the buildings (where they were easier to retrofit), and then rise up into the building's Transfer Stations (where the Bathyspheres are then lifted out of the water). The use of Rapture-pressure (1 atmosphere) water passages saved greatly on the cost of construction and the need to maintain a set of complex Airlock gates/doors and pumping equipment at those small Stations. It was fortunate that the 'Transfer' Tunnel routes were put in when the buildings were constructed (the local network was all part of one local Company (and was a way for them to lower cost). Otherwise it would have require significant retrofitting if done later, which might have cancelled them even being built. --- --- --- An earlier Mk1 AE Station was abandoned when most of the AE was rebuilt, and the larger Mk2 Station was built as seen in the map. The abandoned MK1 Station is located adjacent/ties-into Apollo Station and Olympus Square (nice and central as it should have been). The new larger AE Mk2 Station was added in another location (attached to Athenas Glory) as the AE did not want to shutdown the (busy) old Station's operation while the new Station was being built, and its enlarged size also would require too much reconstruction of existing buildings. Olympus Heights became one of Rapture's primary AE Stations, with 4 AE track lines converging, so it got a double tracked layout. Previously, on the old Mk1 system, the line had dead ended at Olympus Heights. The Mk2 AE system's construction saw more than a few route changes/adjustments and expansions/extensions of Rapture's train system. Later, the Olympus Heights' Train Station would have had more changes after the Atlantic Express discontinued its City Passenger business. The AE facilities were still retained as Freight Stations (freight hauling continued to be profitable). It still carried the 'Through' passenger trains which connected the communities/sites outside Rapture, and were accessed at a few central Stations. The old abandoned (1951) Mk1 Station would have been repurposed to some other use - its location still being valuable real estate, being so near an affluent neighborhood. Such stations could likely make reasonably good submarine docking Stations (still using the track machinery to bring submarines thru the existing airlocks). --- Notice the Submarine Garages added on several of the Residential buildings. The People who lived in this area were affluent enough to afford Private Submarines (not exactly the prevalence Prentis Mill talked about when he is lamenting the fall-off of the passenger ridership for the Atlantic Express -- allegedly DUE TO "the private submarines craze" -- the more convenient consolidated Metro Trolley system actually accounted almost totally for that). Sub Docks have (waterproof) overheard cranes to facilitate repairs, and probably also serve as part of an auto-docking mechanism to simplify maneuvering in the tight space of the dock. You can see how extensive (and expensive) a Submarine Garage facilities is, and that should clearly illustrate why Subs/Private 'Bathyspheres' were *NOT* likely used by any large majority of people in Rapture. The Mercury Suites garage has 2 'decks' for a total of 5 separate Submarine garages (each with its own independent airlock). --- --- --- The Basement map level now has the lower 'Sewer' levels within the Trolley viaducts (utilities too), located BELOW the track level. Connections run across to Apollo Station thru the loop and across the viaduct on to Apollo Square and beyond. The Sewer system continues other directions following the now added Trolley extensions. (( Sewers ran to centralized processing facilities where valuable resources (ie- fertilizer) could be reclaimed. Garbage was treated similarly. )) I've modified/shifted the Sewer area 'Tenenbaums Safehouse' so that the Sewer area is mostly under the building. The Sewer opening we exited Tenenbaum's lair through was rather too grandiose, and would actually have been more likely covered with a metal grating (for which they would have to program too much game to make usable). The openings real purpose would have been as ports to drain the tracks (their roadbed being the low point on that floor) from the constant seepage, and to handle any larger leak incidents. An Issue with that open sewer (adjacent to Tenenbaum's Safehouse) is : If it runs for any length it must be fairly level (else it will overflow at one end). What is there actually looks more like it should be a local drainage catchment (done better in other levels with below-the-floor catchments covered by metal grating) from where any water is then transfered thru pipes to the Pump Stations, where the high pressure pumps can push the water out into the Ocean (which is at a MUCH higher pressure than Rapture's inside environment). As usual, there is always a (moderate) normal amount of seepage thru the walls of the buildings/viaducts, and this is what is collected and disposed of. What mostly isn't seen in the game is : The various utility lines running thru these passageways, connecting buildings - electric power lines, hot water pipes(for heating), steam lines, fresh water pipes, air circulation ducts, gas lines, communications lines, sewages pipes, Pneumo tubes, compressed air lines, accessways, etc... (stuff you don't want to use an 'Open Sewer' enclosement for). These conduits connect all the way back to Hephaestus and other utility source/handling facilities. I've added a utility Tram track thru sections, which would be used to move utility equipment and personnel to facilitate repairs. It is likely that Big Daddies used these to move about the city for their various/many maintenance tasks. --- --- --- Added : the Olympus Heights Mall, above the Central Bistro Square. Olympus Heights would be a Premium spot for shops, stores and offices. The various shops/restaurants/salons/services would cater to the nearby affluent residents (including Athena's Glory with its 10 floors of multiple apartments). The Olympus Heights Building extended several floors higher around that high central ceiling you see in the game. This is all accessible via the now added stairs and elevators. On the top floor of Olympus Heights, there is a Fine Dining restaurant named 'Mount Olympus' (likely, name, no ?). It should have a nice large spherical window dome in a central spot. --- --- --- Added/expanded upon : Athenas Glory (originally all we saw was the facing edge of a building). It has been elaborated on (a bit), with convenience shops/small restaurants/services on 'ground floors' and several lower public levels, and convenient pathways/connections through to the AE Train Station (and the later added Bathysphere hub). The Trolley now goes thru the lowest floor ... with the usual elevators and stairs to access its many floor levels of apartments. More conventional (but still 'Deluxe') apartments fill this buildings many stories. Athenas Glory is more the typical regular 4/+ apartment per floor, having 6+ residential floors. I've added a Sub Parking complex adjacent to Athenas Glory (being in a affluent area, it would be likely to have a garage not for privately-owned vehicles, but for ones used for the equivalent to taxi or limo service for its many customers.) It would have storage 'parking' space for a dozen or more submarine vehicles. It has a pair of shared Airlocks with storage inside at Rapture Pressure. An overhead crane mechanism would move the vehicles to parking spots. You don't/cannot just "Park in the Street" in Rapture. --- --- --- Note- Sander Cohen's 'Bat Cave' (secret entrance to his private Sub Garage), His 'Stretch' Limo Sub is there next to and specially accessible to his deluxe apartment. See Sander Cohen's Underwater Wonderland out the window of his apartment (a sampling exposition done by his business sideline of a "Seascape" Decorating business). Can you spot the hidden bunnies ?? I added this because of the 'Sea' windows in his apartment looked out that direction, yet on a floor above, part of an apartment (of the same building) sticks out well beyond it, requiring a supporting building extension on the floors below (and thus conflicting with an open Sea View). So Cohen got a rather fancy giant aquarium to resolve the problem. (I do have to use some imagination/creativity to explain the boo-boos in the original level map plans ...) --- --- --- I observed all the nearby/adjacent buildings as viewed from the accessible Viaducts, and added them to my map (and matched up the ones from the Apollo Square map as well). Note - most don't have interior details specified. Each one would have its own infrastructure/utilities/etc.. , and I've connected many using viaducts, as they would be. As usual, those decorative buildings (seen out thru the windows) are scaled down caricatures (easily seen if you use the fly+ghost Cheats to get close to them, they are 1/2 to 1/3rd size (window spacing indicates floor spacing). Because of that they appear wrong if viewed from different positions. Several of the small buildings were corrected/enlarged and adapted to some of the viaducts which were stretched (to fix other problems). Many of the buildings are many-stories tall and the (largely duplicate) higher levels have been omitted from this set of maps. The view of the Central Square building (where the Bistro is) from the Trolley Viaducts, shows a tall building of at least 6 stories above the Trolley level (10+ , but caricature views are undersized and not to the proper playing scale). This map shows several of its further levels now connected by elevators and stairs opening into the Central Square. The gamemakers did not bother to include any such on the game Level maps - not even hinting with blocked or destroyed doors/stairs/elevators). I've also added Stores all around the Bistro hub (main and lower level) which would serve all the nearby buildings also. Various shops have been added at the Square to fill in building voids (its a logical CENTRAL place - the level dev was a bit lazy and didn't even give us blocked doors/shop fronts/signs for such a likely business venue). One odd shaped building existed on both Olympus Heights and (now) Apollo Square level maps -- with different map orientations of their somewhat rectangular shape. The shapes were combined to preserve the facing viewed from either/both maps, resulting in an irregular Six-sided building (rectangles can get boring - the Wales Brothers said ...). --- --- --- Added : Bulkhead Safety Doors for Trolley Viaduct connections between buildings (standard safety requirement throughout Rapture -- A STRICTLY ENFORCED CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENT). The Trolley tracks have their own much larger Bulkhead safety doors. Note - these (usually double sets of) doors are in a normally-open position (so they don't have to constantly open and close like Securis-type doors do). They are, in an emergency, driven by hydraulic rams and gravity, and are capable of cutting thru anything blocking their closing - including Trolley cars. I've stretched the Trolley viaduct's lengths a little to clear structures on the Apollo Square level map (from Apollo Square Station), which would have been overlapping otherwise. They were lengthened and given a somewhat less crowded placement of buildings. - Added - a large Security Station for this district (afforded by the affluent people who live in the area - as lots of riff-raff go thru on those Trolleys). Unfortunately with Apollo Square nearby, the area was eventually disrupted when the Chaos after the Kashmir Massacre happened (to close to Atlas's killer Anarchists), resulting in what we see of the place in BS1. --- --- --- I've added one of the Multi-Player maps, as another 'Affluent' Residential building (that MP level was called Mercury Suites also, but has a far different floorplan -- why waste it). I added it as a leftwards cluster node off the Olympus Heights transit hub. I thought maybe 'Mercurius Prime' might be a name (Hermes was already taken elsewhere), and decided on new a -Ritzy- sounding name of ' "Metropolitan Mansions" ('Marylin Mansions' would have been stupid, heh.)'. The Metropolitan Mansions building has been filled out to nearly 3 times the MP-game's visible volume (to achieve a logical (more) monolithic structure) , and now has 9 apartments of various sizes (many multi-leveled, and one traversing 4 different floors !! -- it IS "Mansions" after all ....). An additional lower floor has direct access to the Transit hub, and a bunch of special 'deluxe' services (including a swimming pool) which you would have seen in a Far-upscale Residential complex. A 4th residential floor (seen as a blank wall extending upwards around upper edge of that original airy Atrium) was added, extending a number of apartments with some additional (roomy) floorspace. Several of the apartments have their own private elevators. The fairly modest (by comparison) apartments are on the bottom floor (ie- that Dentist's Office). "Metropolitan Mansions" (original map) - has alot of windows irregularly placed willy-nilly, making for many likewise irregularly positioned walls. At least the upscale nature of the residences means that the more expensive (and thinner) 'window wall' construction (which uses LOTS more metal for its required structural strength) could be afforded to make possible such an irregular arrangement. Metropolitan Mansions may have had a circular dome lounge on the roof (with private bar 'club' service) accessed via the building's central elevator. This level is not shown in my level maps. A new (added) Submarine Garage is adjacent, which has a Obelisk on its roof which towers over the main building. This bit of ostentation (which also serves as an advertisement) has observation decks (and probably bar/food service) at various levels. If we have a Lighthouse that looks like the famous one at Alexandria, then we might as well have an Egyptian Obelisk too (Rumors say that some hieroglyphics on it portray Ryan as a Pharaoh). --- --- --- Tenenbaum's Safehouse/Sanctuary/Lair looks like it originally was a Utilities Control/Repair Hub (with an office with a window !) which is the tie-in to Rapture's Utilities Network of Electricity/Heating/Air/Fresh Water/possibly Pneumo/Sewers/Communications/Gas) placed in each of the City's Building Clusters. There actually would be at least 3 equivalent, utility 'hubs' in each area (feeding in from Redundant utility Mains crossing the City), so as to be failsafe in case of breakdowns (AND a reason why so much of Rapture is still inhabitable with the later time's general lack of maintenance). That rather grand sewer entrance, with its segment of open sewer (we saw outside the 'Safehouse' located below the Trolley Viaducts) -- it IS a bit odd, and strangely emerges where everyone and his brother can fall into it, and it blocks much of the Trolley loading platform. Simple enough to have it covered instead with a metal grate/common level lift. --- --- --- Observations : Simple Poor Careless Design : Oddly they (the one level artist ???) made that Safehouse location a solid structural block RIGHT UNDER that Trolley Viaduct, where it would be sticking out weirdly/inconsistently to the sides (it encompasses the Sewer and Safehouse interiors). More common-sensical is to flip the Safehouse (sewer hub) to be over on the other side of that sewer room, so as to be well under the Bistro plaza (INSIDE the Olympus Heights building). The sewerway should also be dropped further below the modified Trolley tracks, burrowing thru in that same direction. The Safehouse/Utility Hub should NOT be below the level of that open sewer/water channel -- in case that overflowed (so it would NOT flow down and inundate the Utility Systems). Simple reality/common sense intrudes yet again on a seemingly tossed-together game level ... I've narrowed the original Sewer entrance (the whole opening should probably be covered by a grating anyway, allowing Pedestrians to use the whole walkway surface to access the stairs to the platform). The Sewer itself also would be wrong in its direction and its being INCOMPLETE -- as it should run building-to-building (embedded in the bottom of the viaducts) towards whatever recovery/disposal site exists locally (for pumping drainage into the Ocean). Looking at this level again -- imagine the smell in that Sewer area !!! (and possibly constantly wafting into the "Safehouse"), particularly with maintenance somewhat discontinued and effluvium (including body parts accumulating) --- cleaning/unclogging sewers will definitely be one Player activity in the MMORPG ... --- --- Tenenbaum must have had many resources, which we never saw, to feed/supply/protect not only herself, but all those Little Sisters (shouldn't there be more of them there if we have 'Saved' all those ones we got our hands on -- assuming we did with our forced *KILL RYAN* mandate ...)??? And if we ate alot of them (tasty ADAM ...), shouldn't there be alot less LS there ?? Well, she may have saved many herself.) So, Tenenbaum may have had allies (like Sinclair seen in BS2). Just to find such a place probably required the help of someone else, Ditto for securing it. The timeline for when she 'went underground' isn't too clear, but she did operate for an extended period of time, and managed to personally free Little Sisters -- where ever she got them from, possibly from Big Daddies (secret sauce like Hypnotize no doubt would help - but done (?) without Tenenbaum being a 'Splicer ' ??). One theory (mine) is that Tenenbaum still obtained ADAM from some of the Little Sisters whom she had 'rescued', and used it to buy cooperation and materials from various contacts. It is within the realm of possibility, that she became Sander Cohen's 'supplier' of various interesting mixes (back in BS1 times), to get at least some assistance. She may have also dealt alot with Sinclair (possibly in trade for secrets from Fontaine's Labs, or tipoffs when Atlas was after him ...). Her ongoing research (if any accomplished) would also likely need a constant supply of ADAM (as well as MANY other supplies). --- --- Fontaine's "Penthouse" is only on the 5th floor of Mercury Suites. Not exactly the 'high-rise' 'Surface-Scrapers' that those game window views like to imply for so much of Rapture. --- Fontaine's Penthouse Shoulda been Thoroughly Trashed ''' : Looking at Fontaine's apartment (in Mercury Suites, Olympus Heights), with it being largely pristine. That is rather strange, as it would have been thoroughly searched by City Authorities for evidence, once Fontaine was suddenly 'dead' (Killed while resisting arrest by City Law Enforcement Authorities). His possessions would have been hauled away to help pay restitution to his victims, and what was left then vandalized or stolen in the general chaos or the retribution owed traitors. The same strangeness was seen later for the "hidden" Fontaine stuff in BaS (in Fontaines Department Store) -- Its '''particularly unlikely for someplace that was supposed to be turned into a Prison. Again a rather incompetent/missing investigation - with no real effort to properly search the premises. Tenenbaum was a minor nuisance by comparison, and her apartment was trashed quite alot. Imagine the state of Fontaine's place, instead of all the pretty stuff virtually untouched. The things written on the wall alone there should have been epic. Ryan's Security men lost many colleagues, and they would have shown their displeasure. I guess the writers didn't want to elaborate on what a baddie Fontaine WAS, so as to conflict with the ongoing narrative (past that 'twist') making Ryan out to still be the bad guy (after all, you're originally being steered to *Kill Ryan* earlier convinced of your righteousness by all of Atlas's mealey-mouthed lies). The story of Ryan 'the Philosophy Breaker' couldn't be interfered with (It being the writer's excuse for the Failtopia, even though they didn't even pay attention to their own story or know how people in Rapture SHOULD have reacted in the whole scenario). --- All those Big Windows (like the irregular ones in Metropolitan Mansions require heavy (expensive) metal frames to leave the thick wall sections and corners properly supported against the intense external water pressure. --- The big fallen-in sections of ceiling in places show that there is a pretty thick floor layer of concrete between levels (This would be typical of Rapture's construction, as the external walls need to be substantially supported inward - those thick floors act as support struts for the walls...). --- Fontaines Home For The Poor may have been one of those 'leaky' Wales Brothers buildings ??? (Fontaine got it cheap ... Sometimes it took a while for the defects to manifest themselves). --- Proper Locks : Having Paparazzi (that Journalist which is part of the Objectivist society) so easily learn Fontaine's Elevator "combination" (5744) doesn't speak well for that kind of Lock (or for Fontaine's personal safety -- when he WOULD have more than a few enemies). 4 digits - would be better as 5 or 6 or 7 (for the game such additional increments are not really relevant). Yes, the player need no more than 4 digits to 'Get the Idea' (though it would not have changed the game much to make it alot longer) ... (( The MMORPG would have much longer sequences - to be more 'realistic', and a wider variety of different mechanisms )) --- The Metro Tram typically (as historically) would be consolidated from several existing Trolley systems built earlier. That means the separate lines don't all neatly connect together, as seen on that loop track transferring to the other line. --- You see signs for Fontaine's Little Sisters Orphanages in Olympus Heights, which if this was a Ryan-controlled part of the city would have had those ripped down or defaced. You'd see signs condemning Fontaine as the criminal he was proven to be. Using children for slug-hosts would NOT have been seen as good in any sense by the Citizens. Here you see Atlas signs all over, so this was an area supporting Atlas and his terrorism. --- In Culpepper's Apartment, you hear a Audio Diary of Sullivan's which alludes to but actually doesn't say that he killed Culpepper, leaving it an open possibility that Sander Cohen actually had it done (more likely than Ryan having Sullivan do it at Cohen's request over an 'artistic' personal rivalry). "when it was done" - was confirming that Culpepper had been murdered ??? The word "THIEF" has been scrawled across back of Culpepper's bed. Does THAT sound like something Sullivan would do ?? There is more to this story than that simplistic "Evil Ryan's Cronies Could Do Whatever they want", smear. --- The Olympus Heights Main Bathysphere station would probably have some fancy statuary (maybe a rendition of the Trevi Fountain in Rome or somesuch). This is supposedly one of the Ritzy-ist residential areas in Rapture. --- --- --- --- Oddities : You see alot of Signs Saying 'Point Prometheus', even when the same direction you are looking leads to Apollo Square, or other City transit destinations (an obvious clumsily overused Asset ...). --- A Walkway Viaduct (below outside near the Athenas Glory blockage) comes straight out of the Sewer/Safehouse level (atypically). It must've been the usual Level Developers's adding of filler without much caring about conflict/consistency problems with their level's existing interior spaces. (( Maybe the/that Sewer (even as corrected) was previously a popular venue where Sea Slug Races were held and high-end clientele were the customers ???)) Anyway, that viaduct connecting to the utility level, goes off West and East towards Asgaard Station (on my Rapture Map), probably linking to something midway. --- Yet another Hotel Monseñor sign (we see many across Rapture). Rapture is too small in population to justify having multiple Hotel Monseñor locations (it was just the level Dev's reusing Assets as filler). In Rapture advertising, signs would be an important part of the commercial system, so I suppose such signs as this one are just 'name recognition', and NOT the actually site of the Hotel (that tower is kinda small anyway). Actually, we should be seeing alot more signs (close) all over the buildings visible from windows in the Viaducts (maybe many were burned-out / turned-off by that time (BS1) for non-payment of their electric bills, or from unrepaired damage). NOTE- Looking at real period cities like Los Angeles, the term 'Hotel' was often used for what actually were appartment buildings (LA had hundreds of small 'Hotels' of this type). --- The tall buildings might look impressive to the game artists/designers, but because of a required thick wall structure, the actual interior spaces are much less in volume that an equivalent building on the Surface (which even up there have a significant amount of their volume dedicated to elevators, hallways, utilities and stairwells). The pressure compression struts within extra thick floors also decrease usable interior space. Original buildings like the 'Monsenor' Tower have been (on my map) somewhat enlarged to try to match what was shown to be real in their caricature, and even then the interior floor space for that one is still only about 50 by 60 feet. But then, that does make it more plausible for the large number of building seen in the Rapture Cityscape (which we get shown in so many window views) to all still only contain the 20000-40000 people, which Rapture is supposed to have as its population (as estimated in the Novel). --- Looking out the windows on the Viaducts, there appears to be many floors stretching down BELOW on many of the adjacent buildings. Often near the top, the windows are closer together to do forced perspective. That was largely for show - to make it look more impressive no doubt (they are also exaggerated caricatures 1/2 to 1/3 of correct size). At the same time in the buildings we walk thru, there are sewer/basement/foundation levels immediately below the main level we have access to. For those other buildings with floor upon floor going down, WOULD YOU really WANT the sewer to be at a higher level than your apartment ?? They also likely did not want to have to detail a 'seabed'. --- The Foundation levels used up ALOT of the inferior-grade concrete Rapture produced, as it was used mainly for mass, and less for strength. This filler had coarse aggregate and rock boulders mixed into it to minimize the concrete required. The Foundation spaces were made up of the (prefabricated on surface) reinforced concrete Structural Shell (black), which once they were floated down and positioned below would have forms added for the Sump passageways. Those were divided into leak containment cells sealed by less expensive submarine style pressure doors, and had various utility spaces(orange) reserved. The Foundation level then would be filled-in with the concrete/filler rock (grey), and tie into piers previously driven into the bedrock of the Ocean floor, all to fasten the extensions of the interior walls on levels above. The Sewerways also seen were prefabricated and ran between clusters of buildings carrying the many utility conduits and maintenance accessways. Most of the Map Levels we've seen in the game are fairly irregular, leading to a similarly irregular layout for the their Foundation spaces. Some parts of the City (ex- the "Street" Construction segments) were MUCH more regular, and thus could have much more (easier) surface prefabrication work done. --- Box of Cigars in Tenenbaum's Apartment ?? Well maybe likely if Frank Fontaine was her Beau (as shown in the Novel ) ... --- Odd Safehouse Door Thing : Why exactly is there that weird mini "dog door" for Little Sisters THERE ?? SO, Tenenbaum installed it herself ?? (You try adding/retrofitting one to one of those safe-like pressure door by yourself). Or is it merely introduced/contrived so that later in "proving Grounds" (the 'training' sequence) it can be used to prevent you from advancing (another plot facilitating "IMPERVIOUS door"). In "Proving Grounds", it was purely there to prevent you from just running quickly to the other end (so forcing the shooting/protecting game activity). Again more imagination would have been good - just a little more creativity rather than heavy handed forced situations coulda been employed there. Would a training Big Daddy understand it, or face something like it in the rest of Rapture ??? Stupid, stupid writers ... I guess they didn't think to use LS vents for this purpose (as they did in BS2). Consider also : Having a door button there only on the INSIDE, and none on the OUTSIDE -- missing so that Tenenbaum could easily get locked out of her own Safehouse ???? Sssssmarrrrt ... --- --- --- Overhead Announcements : "Attention : A new curfew will be enacted on Thursday. Citizens found in violation will be relocated to Apollo Square." "Attention: Any public congregation of more than 4 people will be an Actionable Offense." Which areas are these announced in Rapture? (different areas get different msgs, you know). Such announcements are likely played in problem/unstable areas, rather than the more the Secure parts of Rapture (the ones the remaining SANE people currently live in, or have moved to). It didn't seem to be all THAT many people who were "exiled to Apollo Square" (Atlas's "Useful Idiot" Parasites, locked away/isolated from the Sane Citizens). We only see the usual crazies walking around with guns. Corpses seem to remain intact in many other places in Rapture. SO where are the huge piles of murdered people the writers try to lay at Ryan's feet. There are none. --- Overhead Public Announcement - "The Smuggler is the Friend of the Parasite. It is your duty to report the Smuggler" : Apparently there was still some smuggling activity going on for this to still be playing. It is likely Fontaine wasn't the only one Smuggling. Perhaps Atlas had a second operation hidden - positioned when he was planning his 'death' (that is : the BS1 smart Fontaine, not that revised BaSx idiot who walked around and was easily arrested and locked up). For smugglers to still be in business, it is likely there were still people elsewhere in Rapture in better circumstances than those sections WE travel through (paying for luxuries or weapons, which is about all the smuggling could provide). --- --- --- According to the Novel Jasmine Jolene had an ritzy apartment in Olympus Heights provided by Andrew Ryan. It wasn't mentioned if it was in Mercury Suites or Athenas Glory (Metropolitan Mansions is my own invention making use of the DLC Multi-Player map "Mercury Suites" which is of sufficient 'ritziness'.) --- --- --- Game Map Rework Rules --- --- --- --- --- . .